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Figure Skating 2018/Ladies' singles
Format The competition exists out of two separate rounds. The first round allows the competitors to perform a routine of around 2:40 minutes, after which the athletes with the twenty-four best scores perform another routine of around 4:00 minutes. The competitor with the best score after two rounds is the winner. Preview Thirty athletes qualified for the event. The biggest favorite was Evgenia Medvedeva, who had won almost every meeting in the previous three seasons, only recently losing to youngster Alina Zagitova. The competition of these two athletes representing the Olympic Athletes from Russia existed out of Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond, Carolina Kostner, who won the bronze medal at Sochi 2014, and Maria Sotskova. Outsiders included Satoko Miyahara and Kaori Sakamoto from Japan, as well as Gabrielle Daleman and home-performing Choi Da-bin. Alina Zagitova was the youngest figure skater to compete, leading the 19 athletes younger than 18 years old. Carolina Kostner was the oldest competitor, being over 6 years older than second-oldest Mirai Nagasu. Only 7 competitors had competed in previous editions of the Olympic Games, with Kostner competing since Torino, as the only athlete to have competed more than twice before. Nagasu had competed in Vancouver but missed out four years later. Kostner was also only one of two athletes to have finished in the top 10 in Sochi, with Mae-Berenice Meite finishing tenth. Summary Short Program The short program showed plenty of skaters achieving a new personal best, with the first score of 64.01 set by Bradie Tennell, which wouldn't be broken until Kaori Sakamoto after 19 performances, who received a score of 73.18 points, and Mirai Nagasu, who was set 5 points behind Sakamoto. With the final ten performances all contesting for the top spots, Alina Zagitova was able to get the edge over teammate Evgenia Medvedeva, with Kaetlyn Osmond ending up third. The Japanese Satoko Miyahara and Kaori Sakamoto rounded off the top 5, only 0.03 points of a difference with sixth place Carolina Kostner. While Hungarian Ivett Toth surprised with a performance on a rock number, Larkyn Austman, Diana Nikitina, Giada Russo, Anita Oestlund, Anna Khnychenkova, and Aiza Mambekova weren't able to finish in the top 24. Free Program With little difference between the 16th placed Kailani Craine and 24th placed Li Xiangning coming out of the short program, the battle for classification reigned. While Brazilian Isadora Williams and Ivett Toth scored sub-100, reigning bronze medalist Gabrielle Daleman disappointed with a score of 103.56, finishing 19th in the free program, and home skating Kim Ha-nul surprised with a score of 121.38 good for the tenth place in the free program, allowing her to climb from 21st place to 13th place in the final standings. In the rest of the top 10, Bradie Tennell, Choi Da-bin, and Maria Sotskova were able to climb territory with their performances, while Carolina Kostner and Kaori Sakamoto switched places after their small difference in the short program. Satoko Miyahara and Kaetlyn Osmond were able to retain their positions, while Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova received the exact same score for their free program, Medvedeva edging it based on her component score. Since Zagitova had a 1.3-point lead after the short program, she became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in the ladies' singles since Tara Lipinski at Nagano 1998. Results Figure Skating 2018/Ladies' singles/StartList|Startlist Figure Skating 2018/Ladies' singles/Short|Short Program Figure Skating 2018/Ladies' singles/Free|Free Program Figure Skating 2018/Ladies' singles/Standings|Standings||true Category:Pyeongchang 2018 Events Category:Figure Skating 2018